MSNBC overtakes CNN in primetime

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MSNBC's talkers toppled CNN for three hours in primetime in November, with freshman "The Rachel Maddow Show" passing "Larry King Live" for the second month in the demo.

"Maddow" has been an unqualified success for the network, which not long ago had been counted out as challenging anyone at any time. "Maddow" averaged 672,000 viewers adults 25-54 for November compared with 565,000 for King, Nielsen said Wednesday. For the first time ever for a month, "Maddow" beat "King" in viewers too — 1.8 million vs. 1.7 million.

"Countdown With Keith Olbermann" beat CNN at 8 p.m., as did "Hardball With Chris Matthews" at 7 p.m.

Fox News Channel dominated the cable newsers overall thanks to wins at 7 p.m. with "The Fox Report," 8 p.m. with "The O'Reilly Factor" and 9 p.m. with "Hannity & Colmes." It was a little different at 10 p.m., where "Anderson Cooper 360°" won for the second straight month over Fox News' "On the Record With Greta van Susteren" in adults 25-54. It has won six of the past 11 months in the demo.

Fox News remained the most-watched cable news channel for the 83rd consecutive month. It was the third most-watched network in all of cable for primetime and the fourth in total day. Fox also retained more of its viewership since Election Day than either MSNBC or CNN. (partialdiff)